The Microsoft Security Essentials tool has been falsely identifying Google Chrome as a piece of malware ("PWS:Win32/Zbot") and removing it from people's computers. The tool flagged the browser as a well-known online banking Trojan called Zeus and blocked it from users. In an advisory bulletin released on Friday, Microsoft said the blocking of the browser was a mistake.

Microsoft said it believed around 3,000 users are affected, but later said they expect to revise that figure higher. Users who are experiencing problems starting their Chrome browser are advised to update the virus definitions for Security Essentials, Forefront and Defender software. After updating them, users are advised to re-install Google Chrome.

On Google's front, they have updated the Chrome browser to version 14.0.835.187, as well as post advice on its official blog, giving detailed instructions to affected users who want to fix the problem with Microsoft Security Essentials and restore Chrome manually.

For more information, please visit the security advisory from Microsoft here. To get instructions on manually restoring Google Chrome, please visit its official blog here.